looking for a scanning aid

From: Larry Wentzel (lrw5@PSU.EDU)
Date: Fri May 25 2001 - 12:27:37 CDT

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    Message-Id: <200105251731.KAA17666@dns.ccit.arizona.edu>
Date:         Fri, 25 May 2001 13:27:37 -0400
From: Larry Wentzel <mailto:lrw5@PSU.EDU>
Subject:      looking for a scanning aid
To: mailto:IMAGELIB@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU

    <pre>
    <html> All,<br>
    <br> I'm scanning with a number of oversized materials (maps, foldout illustrations in books, etc.) with our digital camera (Leica S1 Pro) on a boom stand.&nbsp; Because I'm interested in detailed scans of these materials, I'm having to scan them in pieces and stitch them together in Photoshop.&nbsp; It becomes laborious because shifting the material under the camera, by hand, sometimes, well, <u>usually</u> means I accidentally place the material slightly askew.&nbsp; I have to align the images in Photoshop before stitching, and the realignment takes up considerable time.&nbsp; I've considered placing the oversized flat materials on the wall and using the boom stand to move the camera around.&nbsp; However, this won't work for bound materials, like foldout maps and illustrations.&nbsp; And shooting objects mounted on the wall involves additional time for camera setup and recalibration.<br>
    <br> I'm wondering is if there exists a device that I could place the oversize materials, something like an adjustable table top platform.&nbsp; I imagine it would have three boards:&nbsp; the top board shifts only left and right, the middle board shifts only forward and backward, and the bottom is the base.&nbsp; I'm hoping said device would also have locks or something that would keep the boards in position once adjusted (adjust 12&quot;, lock in place and scan.&nbsp; Release, adjust again, lock in place and scan, etc.).&nbsp; This way, the scanned pieces would be already aligned to one another, eliminating the need to rotate the images before stitching.<br>
    <br> If you've seen or heard of such a device being available commercially, I'd love to know where I can find it.&nbsp; I'm also open to other suggestions about how to get around this, and to find out what others have done when they encountered this themselves.<br>
    <br>
    --Larry Wentzel<br>
    --Digital Preservation Scanning Technician<br>
    --Penn State University LIbraries</html>

    </pre>

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